The Neverending Story
by Kurisuta
Summary: Everyone has an Reflection. A Guardian who watches over us. We can't know what form they'll take, one day old man, next day little girl, but don't let appearances fool you. Reality is a prison. Your mind can set you free.
1. Prologue

Everyone has a story. Each one glimmers inside our very essence like a shining star in the vast darkness of space. Some shine brighter and beckon others to them, and some prefer to stay dim.

But we have them anyway. They whisper within us. Daring us to dream. Urging us not to give up hope. They can appear in any form.

These are not our angels; rather, they are the most raw form of our own selves. They will scream in a baby's cry, or whisper through a dying relative. They will shout to us through the worst possible of serial killers.

We can choose to deny them. Give up and protest that our story does not exist; that we could not possibly touch anyone enough to give off light. But the light shines on.

It can come to us at any moment. In any place, and at any time. But that reflection will come. It will urge us on, and challenge us to fight.


	2. Down The Rabbit Hole

The door creaked open as I walked inside the old house. It had been years since I had been home. It was the family shrine, and I was now the sole protector. Everyone else was gone. This house hadn't sold, and I could see why.

My grandmother had probable done some magic mojo on it before they left for the vacation home in Hokkaido. I breathed out in a sigh, placing the picture on the mantle. It was a picture of me, my grandmother, and my little brother Toshio.

So, why wasn't my mother and father in this picture? Because. They were what I was running from.

I slid the door open and I stepped out into the overgrown backyard. It had been left just as my grandmother liked it. Probably untouched for hundreds of years. She was blind as a bat and psychic. But one thing she always told me, and that was never to disturb an unkind spirit.

So who had broken the seal on her well? She had carved that into it herself!

A small white rabbit crawled up on top of the well and looked at a pocketwatch. "Late! I'm very late!"

He squirmed into the well and jumped down, but there was no splash of water and no sound of him hitting the ground. I looked in, but there was nothing but packed soil down there.

The wind blew, pulling at my brown pigtails and untying them. A song was sounded and carried lightly on the wind; a distinct voice coming from behind me.

"Round we go, the world is spinning,

Once it stops, it's just beginning.

Sun comes up, we live and we cry.

Sun goes down, and then we all die."

I turned sharply, stumbling against the rough terrain. I ended up sitting on the ground in front of the well.

"Hello Kurai," Anna Morgan, my mother, stood before me. Her long brown hair was tied up in a tight bun, and her face was lined with pain from her past. "Why did you run away again? You know how much it hurts Mommy when you run from her?"

My feet froze. When she switched to third person, I knew I was to be punished. I knew…but I could not move. I could not breathe.

"Do you have any idea how much pain you've caused this family?" her kind demeanor was gone and she held me aloft by the throat, adrenaline allowing her thin arms the strength to hold me over the unsturdy well. Her voice cracked, and her hand shook. Was she going to stop? Or…was this the end?

"A-All…I ever wanted…was you…"

Her hand released, and I felt myself falling down…down…down. There was a light at the bottom. I reached out toward my reflection. Then I stopped. She wasn't…me. That girl. She looked just like me. But her hair…was blonde. She was like…my reflection.

A smirk lit up her dour expression. She grabbed my wrist and pulled me through. "Welcome to Wonderland."

I shook my head stubbornly. "No. I'm dead. I fell down a well. I have to be dead."

"Is she arguing already, Arisu?" a white bunny holding a pocketwatch tilted it's head.

The blonde laughed aloud. "Indeed she is. Tell me Kurai. If you're dead, then why are you is, when you should be isn't?"

"Um, well, because!" I shouted. "Because this is a dream! And who are you? Are you me?"

"Why yes I am!" she said, smiling broadly. "I am you. I am Arisu. I am you. But not you!"

"Oh…kay…" I said. "Wait a second. Gimme that!"

I grabbed the pocket watch from the bunny. "Just as I thought!"

'Don't forget 3 Oct Year 11.'

Arisu looked over her shoulder. "Oh! Yes that belongs to The Watchmaker. But we haven't the time to return it! Because, as Usa-chan pointed out, you are ever so late!"

And with that, she pulled a sword from her waist that instantly got bigger, and sliced through the undergrowth.

"Hey you!" I yelled, chasing her. "Why do you have Tetsusaiga?"

"Don't be silly," Arisu said. "Every guard needs a sword like every queen needs a crown. But don't worry. I'm only a guard right now. Soon I'll be you and you'll be me and we'll all be back to normal."

"So when's that," I said, thoroughly exhausted with this strange behavior and logic.

"Shh," she said. "We've entered the Graveyard, and the Queen is here."

I turned to see a Queen, clad in white, talking with what seemed to be her slave.

"Arisu…is that?"

"Queen Angela, and her advisor Earl Phantomhive. It is said that she beheaded his parents. It is her who keeps Wonderland in this state of tyranny."

I felt my fist clench, but it was too late to say anything, because we had left the graveyard and entered the forest again. With sweeping movements, Arisu quietly cleared the way for me, until we reached the clearing. Of course. I should have known. The Goshinboku.

"Well?" Arisu said, hand on her hip. "You gonna go wake him up?"

"Who is he?" I breathed, as if I didn't know.

"Silly," Arisu said. "That's the hanyou Inuyasha. Everyone knows that Queen Angela hates Youkai more then anything, so she sent an army of priests and priestesses to hunt and kill them all. He survived, but she managed to curse him. He only survived because he's human. Queen Angela can't kill humans with her own hands. And no one else can get close enough to this guy. To sum it up, out of everyone in Wonderland, he's the only one who can stop her."

"I don't get it. What does she want?" I asked.

"Well that's simple. She wants to get out of Wonderland. A long time ago she was cursed so she could never leave. They say if she collects a thousand souls then she can return."

I shuddered. This place was nothing like Carroll's adaptation. Or any of the movies. It was more like…a really gorey anime. "Okay here goes."

I grabbed the arrow and pulled. But nothing happened. "You sure this guy's alive?"

"Halt!"

Arisu and I turned and there were villagers with arrows pointed at us. She sheathed her sword.

"I can take them, Kurai. Wake up the mutt, okay?"

An arrow flew towards me, and I grabbed the tree for support.

_I don't want to be here. I don't want to be here. I don't want-_

An arrow hit the tree next to Inuyasha's head. Dammit. Running out of time.

I lay my forehead against his. _I bet he doesn't want to be here either. I bet he wants to go home. If he even has that to go back to. That's not really fair. I don't have 'home' either. I guess me and him are a lot a like._

The arrow lit up, growing warm against my hand and then burning as it vanished. The hanyou gasped for breath and the villagers ran.

"Arisu, you weren't lying," Inuyasha said. "That was a long sleep."


	3. Curiouser and Curiouser

**_Wake up. Wake up Alice._**

_"My name's not Alice."_

**_Yes it is._**

_"No. My name is Kurai. My name is Kurai Morgan. I live in Maine. My mother's name is Anna and my father—"_

**_Is that right? Is that true? Because you know Arisu. You know Usa-chan. You know the Queen and the Earl and the Watchmaker and the Hanyou._**

_I stood up. Smiling in front of me was a Chesire Cat. "I know you, too. And I won't believe a word you say."_

**_Really, Alice?_**

_"I'm not her. My name is Kurai. K-U-R-A-I."_

**_Who are you convincing? Me? Or you? Alice._**

_"Tell me how to get home right now."_

**_Okay. Defeat the Queen and take the Book. The Book takes you home. _**

_"Tell me how to do that."_

**_Okay. You need A Knight, A King, A Pawn, A Rook, A Bishop, A Queen, An Ace, A Joker, and A Rabbit. _**

_"Am I playing a chess game?"_

**_You are playing the most dangerous game, Alice. He smiled at me, and disappeared._**

_"Quit doing that! And it's Kurai!" _


	4. Army Of Me

_stand up_

_you've got to manage_

_i won't sympathize_

_Anymore_

_and if you complain once more_

_you'll meet an army of me_

I woke with a start, and grabbed a bit of paper from Arisu's backpack and scribbled: 'Knight, King, Bishop, Rook, Queen, Ace, Pawn, Rabbit, Joker.'

_The Knight is Inuyasha. The Rabbit is Usa-chan. The Ace is the Watchmaker. The Queen is Arisu. I'm the King, because they all seem to protect me. That leaves…the pawn, bishop, rook…and the Joker. Well. We just have to start looking._

I saw a rustling in the bushes, and I pushed them away to reveal: Usa-chan.

"There you are!" he said. "This is from Chesire."

He handed me a bow and arrows. "Fun. Anything else?"

"He said you might need me for something," said the bunny.

"Oh!" I said. "Yes of course! I need for you to join us."

It was still dark. I found that I was a bit thirsty. I walked over toward the creek and a cold chill began to bite at my skin. I had wandered into a snowstorm.

A barrage of crows flew directly toward me, and I grabbed my bow. I seemed a surprisingly good shot, as one arrow pierced all of the deadly birds. A dark man walked towards me.

He flicked his hand out and held silverware as a weapon. He launched knives toward me, and I spun out of the way in one solid sweeping movement.

"The dark Alice," he stated.

"My name…" I said softly, gripping an arrow in my hand and causing it to glow as I plunged it into his dark heart. "Is Kurai. Join us and I will unbind you, demon."

A thousand crows flew about us, and the snow became momentarily blinding.

"My purpose…is to release those under that Queen's hold," I said. "And you. Your purpose is to release your young charge, the Earl Phantomhive."

"That's an interesting word," said the man. "Purpose. I think you know well that we don't keep things here without a purpose, Alice."

My eyes narrowed. "My name is Kurai. You either join us—" I twisted the arrow. "Or be vanquished."

"My life is to serve my master," he said. "If, to that end, I must become your rook, then it is well met. I, Sebastian Michaelis, will fight the Queen."

I pulled the arrow from him. "Then our fight for survival starts right now."


	5. White Rabbit

_One pill makes you larger_

_And one pill makes you small_

_And the ones that mother gives you_

_Don't do anything at all_

_Go ask Alice_

_When she's ten feet tall_

When I arrived back at the camp with Sebastian and Usa-chan in tow, it took a lot of explaining before anyone understood why they were there. Once I was finished, however, I asked Arisu think of who could be the pawn, Joker, and bishop.

"We can't approach the Watchmaker until we have everyone with us," she replied. "He's testy. But we'll find the Joker at the Graveyard of Lost Souls."

Sebastian laughed darkly. "You can't expect to survive a trip through that place. Not the two of you."

I glared at him. "We have plenty of support. Besides, it isn't like we have a choice."

Usa hopped on my head. "I know the way! Follow me!"

He hopped off briskly and the rest of us followed. Arisu had her guns drawn, as her blade was in Inuyasha's hand. He had been quiet ever since my return. But none of that mattered. We were heading into battle, and feelings weren't important right now.

A sharp mist filled the air. It seemed darker than before. Usa stopped at the gate of the graveyard. "This is the place."

"So why is everyone so worked up?" I asked.

"Legend says that when the mists rise, so do the dead," Inuyasha stated, his voice chillingly serious.

"Hn," I replied, and shot a glowing arrow in a boomerang-like fashion, so that it hit all the oil lamps and lit them with an unearthly glow. What was revealed was much worse than zombies. Akuma. Thousands.

Arisu tensed, but was the first to jump into the fight. She shot her gun and reloaded in an insane acrobatic movement as she dodged bullets from oncoming level ones and spun under and around them. The others were quick to join, Usa growing to a large size and trampling as many as he could as fast as he could. Sebastian was in his element, as was Inuyasha, one to my right, the other my left, leaving no room for me to fight, although I had an arrow notched.

Finally all seemed to fall silent. I shifted nervously. "What about the Joker?"

Arisu nudged me forward. "You have to go into the Catacombs. Alone."

I sighed and pushed the heavy door open. The smell of human remains filled my lungs and I almost gagged, but refrained. I couldn't see, so I just started walking.

"Lost soul…"

I turned, sure I had heard a voice, but shook my head and kept moving.

"Lost soul…you belong to the Grave. The Grave will make you one of us…"

I grabbed an arrow and ignited it, revealing that I was surrounded. Surrounded, and out of ammunition. Dammit.

The light went out.

I started to say my prayers when I saw a flash and heard the sound of Akuma being vanquished. My arm was grabbed as the air filled with a putrid smell and the next thing I knew I was coughing in the graveyard.

"Kurai! You're alright!" Arisu said cheerily. "I'm so glad you found the Joker!"

"I resent that," said Allen Walker. "My name is Allen. I keep telling you that, Arisu, but you can't get it into your head."

"I believe that she was referring to a metaphor," Sebastian said, explaining the group we needed.

"Are you sure you're okay, Kurai?" Inuyasha asked me.

"Yeah," I said. "I just really hate their use of literary form."


	6. Search and Destroy

_I'm a street walking cheetah_

_with a heart full of napalm_

_I'm a runaway son of the nuclear A-bomb_

_I am a world's forgotten boy_

_The one who searches and destroys_

_Honey gotta help me please_

_Somebody gotta save my soul_

I awoke at dawn. It was beautiful here in Wonderland, but it was obvious that it was dying. The tyrannous rule of Queen Angela was destroying the beauty of this place like bleach does to a photograph.

I heard a sound on the hill to my left and went to investigate. Inuyasha was awake, and he was staring at the sunrise.

"What is it, Inuyasha?" I asked him. "You seem awfully quiet."

Inuyasha seemed tentative, as if he didn't want to voice what he was thinking.

"Don't worry," I reassured him. "Whatever it is, I won't judge you."

"The Queen…" he said. "Are you going to kill her?"

I frowned. "No. I'm just going to still her book."

"The Booke of Grimm?" Inuyasha was standing, and he looked appalled. "Who told you to get that?"

"The Chesire Cat," I replied.

"Ha!" Inuyasha said. "Typical. He's vying for rulership of Wonderland just like the rest of 'em. He's probably planning to use you to get the book and then kill you."

"What is the Booke of Grimm?" I asked.

He sighed. "I don't know that much about it, just the stuff in legends. Wonderland is the Subconscious mind. Fantasia is the land of Fantasy. Neverland is the Land of the Lost. Oz is the Land of Parables. Earth is the Motherland. A long time ago, the Queen gained possession of the Booke of Grimm from the Keeper, Lord Phantomhive. Ever since, she has reigned. And your only way back is through that Booke. But only one person can use it."

"Who?"

"Her little servant," Inuyasha laughed. "Ciel Phantomhive."

I frowned again. It didn't seem fair at all. "Well, let's deal with the Watchmaker first, then worry about the Queen."

Arisu came up, hair wet from a bath. "Well we won't have an easy time of it, even with the Joker on our side. The Watchmaker's paranoid and keeps crazy traps around his home."

"Well we've got a good team," I replied, smiling and slinging a pack of arrows over my back. "Let's do this."

We approached the great maze and walked right in.

"Welcome!" We were greeted by the Ouran High School Host Club in a flurry of rose petals.

"What is this we have?" Tamaki asked, dressed as the Mad Hatter. They were all dressed as Mad Hatters. "It is Alice, her reflection, and her chessboard of an army, ha ha!"

"Have some tea and cake!" Hunny and Mori said.

"We have to be going," Arisu began, but was twin-ambushed.

"Leaving—"

"—So soon?"

Her cheeks flushed and she ran off through the maze.

"That's one," Kyoya said, marking something on a clipboard.

"What are you writing?" Allen and I chorused.

"I'm making a list for the Queen," he said. "I'm quite mad, you see, and I play both sides, because when is up down when down is up or is it the other way around?"

Sebastian sat down and drank some tea and promptly turned into a cat.

"That would be two," Kyoya smiled.

Tamaki took my hand and whirled me around. "Dance with me Alice!"

BAM! Inuyasha and Allen bonked him on the head.

"You better watch out," the twins chorused. "This maze will drive you mad!"

The three of us went on, with Usa clinging onto my backpack.

Suddenly Allen screamed. His eye had activated, and was bleeding. "S-So many lost souls…I-I can't go on, Alice…"

I grabbed his hand. "Allen…remember what Mana told you. Keep walking. But if it's really that painful, I will let you stay. But I swear I'll be back for you."

I turned to follow Inuyasha, but he too, was gone. I didn't know where he went, so I clenched my fists. The only way to see them again was to move forward.

I finally made it. The house was on fire. But it wasn't burning up. Like the burning bush. And the fire wasn't hot. I walked in, and found Edward Elric sitting at a worktable winding a watch.

"Usa," I whispered, and the shaking bunny handed me a watch. "Ed, this is yours."

He took it without looking up, then opened it. His eyes widened and he stood. "Alice."

I smiled a little. "I don't see why everyone calls me that. It's Kurai. We need to defeat the Queen. Let's get the others."

Ed looked at me. "Anyone who doesn't leave the maze doesn't leave the maze."

"I don't understand."

He put a hand on my shoulder. "They're lost, Kurai."


	7. Tomorrow Never Knows

_Turn off your mind relax and float down stream_

_It is not dying, it is not dying_

"Wh-What?" I yelled, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him. "N-no! I promised them! I promised them I would come back! This isn't right!"

"Calm down!" Ed replied. "The only thing we can do is get the Booke. It can do anything."

"But Ed!" I yelled. "I can't! I can't do this alone!"

"We can do this," Ed replied. "You have me. Let's go."

He grabbed my hand and led me down an underground passage. The house collapsed behind us.

"She knows," Ed whispered. "The protection on my home just gave way…"

He pulled me faster and it seemed we were walking miles underground, going no where, when we finally reached the main staircase.

We dropped our shoes in the hole and ran on bare feet through the pure white castle. We searched rooms until we found it. The room where the Booke of Grimm was kept.

"You came to take it, didn't you?" said a small voice.

I gasped at what I saw. It was Ciel, but not the version I was used to. He was gaunt and pale, and looked as if he had been starved. He was a pale white that matched the walls. His clothes and eyes were white, and his hair was greying.

"Don't look so frightened," he said. "If you stay near Her too long, this is what happens. Here."

He handed me the book.

"Only a human can use the Booke," Ciel said. "The Queen keeps me here and spreads the rumor the she is using me to control the Booke. But she can't even touch it. Only mortal hands can hold it."

"Which is why I will take your soul myself, Alice," Queen Angela screeched, entering the room with a sword drawn.

Unfortunately, Ciel and Ed got in front of me at the same time, and were skewered like a meat kabob. Blood poured onto the white marble, and I gasped.

Queen Angela screamed. "RED! Red is on my perfect unblemished white!"

I pulled the sword out of them. "Death. TO THE BLOODY RED QUEEN!"

I plunged the sword into the depths of her heart, and she fell to the ground. "I…am white. Perfect, unblemished, pure white…"

"No," I answered her. "You are red. Red for the blood of my friends that you spilt you vile creature."


	8. Where Is My Mind

_who honors those we love for the very life we live _

_who sends monsters to kill us and at the same time sings that we'll ever die _

_who teaches us what's real and how to laugh at lies_

_who decides why we live and what we'll die to defend_

_who chains us and who holds the key that can set us free_

_it's you_

_you have all the weapons you need _

_now fight_

I opened the book.

"When the story has ended

And the plot has been closed

Go through the doorway

Make new the story."

After I spoke the strange words that formed on the page before me, I was trapped in a very Oz-like whirlwind of flashing light and color.

When everything settled down, I was in darkness.

**_So Alice. You decided not to give me the Booke after all._**

_I am Kurai. And I will not let you touch what is mine._

**_You have changed Alice. I'd say you are yourself. More backwards-frontwards than frontwards-backwards. Yes…I think you are Kurai, now._**

_Wow, so you learned my name. _

**_Don't be insulting. Choose your door._**

I stood up. Doors had appeared, and I could now see Chesire floating above me. "Wh-where do they lead?"

"How should I know?" He asked. "Those doors come from you. Only you know. Those are wish doors."

"So the places they lead to, are they real?" I asked desperately.

Chesire smiled, his body fading. "Don't you know, Kurai? This world you create, it can be as real as anything."

"I just want my friends back, Chesire!" I yelled at him. "I want…I want to take it all home!"

In response, a silver door floated down and hovered in front of me. I put my hand on the handle, and ventured in…

To Be Continued.


End file.
